“Landscape Terroir: Reimagining the genius loci of an island”
The project is entitled ‘Landscape Terroir’ – it proposes growing hemp and sheep in a closed-loop, soil-to-soil model where the sheep graze on the hemp after it has been harvested, as an example of carbon farming (growing plants which regenerate the soil and sequester carbon, as well as looking after livestock capable of feeding on these plants in a closed-loop sustainable system). The hemp is used to produce hempcrete – a natural building material with airtight and insulative properties to build resilient floating modular houses, adaptable to rising sea levels. The proposed model is one which could help island communities create a thriving resilient economy, as well as provide a solution to housing crisis which many of these communities might face in the time of climate changes. The slow move of the community towards the water is a proposed one and perceived as a logical step to leave the limited usable land for agriculture and production of food and in this case, plants for building material.
While dealing with responses to the climatic changes are vital, to us, architects, of utmost importance is also how this would affect the atmospheres and ‘sense of place’ we create with our designs. In terms of how can the Scillies maintain their ‘sense of place’ in the time of climate change, the answer that the proposal gives is this: it encapsulates the materiality and the character of the place where it is located and where it came from, yet also introducing a new typology altogether to the architecture of the Scillies.
The owners picking up their new floating house from the proposal, dragging it with a boat to the desired new ‘site’.
Exploring the decay of the building, as well as its life, to understand the soil to soil full cycle in a building
Exploring the buildability, materiality and atmosphere of building with hempcrete and combining it with different facade solutions
Exploring the soil to soil concept of architecture growing from the Earth and circulating back to it through modelmaking
CONTACT EMAIL: connie.ivanova@yahoo.com
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantsa-ivanova-78812710a/
Curated by Laura Selwood